MAKING HEADLINES: Taunton's top 5 stories of 2010

It would be hyperbole to claim that the Silver City during the past year was the setting for events of biblical proportion, but with fire, flood, murder and a whiff of scandal it came close.

Charles Winokoor

It would be hyperbole to claim that the Silver City during the past year was the setting for events of biblical proportion, but with fire, flood, murder and a whiff of scandal it came close.

The year will be remembered for what was the single largest and most carefully coordinated drug sweep in Taunton’s history: Operation RF (Restore Fairfax) Diesel, with 60 arrests made.

Fire made a key appearance the morning of Aug. 17, when a smoky blaze spread throughout the attic area of City Hall on Summer Street, resulting in the closure of the building and the relocation of municipal offices.

Homicide cases in the city, as of Christmas Day, numbered three. The most recent of those was the shooting and beating death of 59-year-old Francis Douglas Carreiro in Whittenton.

The previous two deaths were of Joseph E. Dugan, 33, on July 8, and 17-year-old Tigan Holligsworth less than two weeks before that.

In the political scene, the midterm elections in November brought a major electoral upset when Republican Shaunna O’Connell, a political novice, defeated long-term Democratic state Rep. James Fagan for the Third Bristol District seat — by a 31-vote margin after a recount.

And no year would be complete without at least one declared state of emergency. This year’s happened on March 30 in the wake of two heavy rainfalls within the same week, which caused major traffic detours along Dean Street and Route 44.